Chinese President Xi Jinping will go to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on September 14-16, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated on Monday, in what might be his first official go to to a overseas nation after China however closed its borders as a result of COVID-19 .
The go to will coincide with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit within the Uzbek metropolis of Samarkand, and Xi will meet with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a ministry assertion stated.
The go to underscores China’s strategic ties with Central Asian states at a time when relations with many Western international locations have been strained as a result of China’s “no borders” partnership with Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February. was.
Last month, the Wall Street Journal, citing individuals who didn’t want to be named, reported that Xi was contemplating touring to Central Asia to satisfy Putin and different leaders on the SCO summit.
Putin was not talked about in Monday’s Chinese overseas ministry assertion.
Xi’s final identified official go to to a overseas nation was to Myanmar in January 2020, simply earlier than the Chinese authorities declared a public well being emergency with the unfold of the brand new coronavirus.
His final go to outdoors mainland China was to Hong Kong on 30 June to mark the twenty fifth anniversary of the town’s handover from British management in 1997.
In latest months, hypothesis has mounted about which international locations Xi will go to and when such a go to would possibly happen.
The SCO is a regional safety bloc launched in 2001 to deal with radical Islam and different safety considerations. The group initially consisted of China, Russia and the 4 former Soviet Central Asian republics earlier than India and Pakistan joined in 2017.
Last month, a longtime adviser to Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo stated Xi and Putin would attend November’s G20 summit on Indonesia’s Bali island.
In mid-October, Xi is extensively anticipated to safe a 3rd management time period, breaking a precedent on the ruling Communist Party’s once-in-five-year congress.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
